Top 17 museums in New York City

The Metropolitan Museum of Art showcases tens of thousands of objects across more than 5,000 years of art at its two sites in New York City. Founded in 1870, the Met is the largest art museum in the US, housing a vast collection at both the Met Fifth Avenue and the Met Cloisters.

The main building at Fifth Avenue is one of the world’s largest art galleries. Guests can also enjoy the Met Cloisters, a smaller location with an extensive collection of art, architecture and artefacts.

In 2022, the Met selected Mexican architect Frida Escobedo to design its $500 million modern and contemporary art wing. She will be the first woman to design a wing at the museum in NYC.

The museum has also announced a project to develop a gallery to display the Costume Institute’s annual spring show. Fundraising for the initiative is being led by Met trustee Anna Wintour.

Sofie Andersen, head of digital content at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, previously spoke to blooloop about this top museum’s digital strategy.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is an internationally renowned art museum, cultural centre and educational institution in NYC. It has a reputation as one of the world’s top museums. It was established by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1939 as the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, before opening in a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1959.

The Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened in 1997 and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice was established in 1951. The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is in development and due to open in 2026.

New York’s Guggenheim Museum is a permanent home for an expanding collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern and contemporary art. 

Art historian Mariët Westermann was appointed as its new director and CEO in 2023, and succeeds Richard Armstrong, who had served at the institution for 14 years. In 2023 the institution also announced Noam Segal as its first associate curator of art and technology.

The Whitney Museum of American Art was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and opened in 1931. In 1954, the institution moved to an expanded site before opening the Marcel Breuer-designed building in 1963.

The current building opened in 2015 and houses a broad range of 20th century and contemporary American art, focusing on works by living artists. Designed by Renzo Piano, the Whitney’s latest home is located between the High Line and the Hudson River and vastly increased the exhibition and programming space.

The permanent collection includes more than 26,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, films, videos, and new media by more than 3,800 artists.

In 2023, the Whitney appointed Latinx art specialist Marcela Guerrero as DeMartini Family Curator. In the same year, Scott Rothkopf became the museum’s director, following Adam Weinberg, who stepped down after 20 years.

Founded in 1897, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is home to innovative exhibitions, educational programmes and online resources.

The Smithsonian museum boasts one of the world’s most diverse and comprehensive design collections, with more than 210,000 objects spanning 30 centuries. These include drawings, prints, graphic design, product design, decorative arts and textiles. Located in New York’s Carnegie Mansion, this top museum covers four floors of galleries dedicated to design.

Maria Nicanor, an architecture and design curator and historian, was announced as the new director of Cooper Hewitt in February 2022.

Carolyn Royston, chief experience officer of Cooper Hewitt, spoke to blooloop about merging digital and physical elements to create an integrated visitor experience.

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), one of the largest natural history museums in the world, spans 26 interconnected buildings. Founded in 1869, AMNH has 45 permanent exhibition halls, as well as a planetarium and library.

The museum’s collection contains more than 34 million specimens of plants, fossils, animals, minerals, rocks, meteorites and human remains. AMNH is renowned for its exhibitions and scientific collections, which serve as a field guide to the planet.

In 2023, AMNH opened the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. The development cost $465 million and houses research facilities, scientific collections, new exhibits, an insectarium, and a butterfly vivarium. 

It also welcomed Sean Decatur, a biophysical chemist with a doctorate from Stanford University, who became president of the American Museum of Natural History in April 2023. Decatur is the institution’s first African American president.

Founded in 1929, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York cares for a vast collection of more than 200,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, objects and models. Highlights include Claude Monet’s ‘Water Lilies’, Vincent van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’ and Pablo Picasso’s ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’. 102,000 works are available to view online.

In 2020, more than 250 new works were installed throughout 30 galleries on all floors of the museum. The expanded MoMA reopened in October 2019 following an investment of $450m.

“The real value of this expansion is not more space, but space that allows us to rethink the experience of art in the museum,” said Glenn D Lowry, the David Rockefeller director. The expansion was developed by MoMA with architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, in collaboration with Gensler.

The Museum of Modern Art hired four women to its leadership team in October 2021.

Another of New York’s top museums is the Brooklyn Museum – one of the largest and oldest art museums in the US. Spread across 560,000 square feet, this is the third largest museum in NYC and boasts a collection which represents nearly every culture on the earth. Founded in 1895, the Brooklyn Museum features art by Edward Hopper, Norman Rockwell and Georgia O’Keeffe.

The building was designed by American architectural firm McKim, Mead & White and opened to the public in 1897. Major renovations were carried out in the late 20th century.

In early 2022, the Brooklyn Museum announced two new leadership positions, with Adjoa Jones de Almeida and Carolyn Royston taking on the roles of deputy director for learning and social impact and deputy director for engagement, respectively. Royston previously served as chief experience officer at Cooper Hewitt.

Located on NYC’s Museum Mile, the Jewish Museum was founded in 1904 and is one of the oldest Jewish museums in the world. The institution looks after a collection of nearly 30,000 paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations, archaeological artefacts, ceremonial objects and media. These span more than 4,000 years of Jewish history.

The Jewish Museum, which opened to the public in 1947, was the first of its kind in the US. Dedicated to art and Jewish culture, the attraction is home to diverse exhibitions and programmes that combine art and artefacts.

One recent exhibition, ‘The Hare with Amber Eyes’, tells the tale of the Ephrussi family, recognised in Edmund de Waal’s 2010 memoir of the same name. Diller Scofidio + Renfro worked closely with the Jewish Museum and de Waal to create an interpretive installation using family and loaned artefacts.

James S. Snyder was appointed as director in 2023, and succeeded Claudia Gould who had served in the role for 12 years.

Merchant’s House Museum is the only 19th century family home in New York that is preserved intact. Constructed in 1832, the house became a museum in 1936 when it was founded by a cousin of the Tredwell family, who lived there between 1835 and 1933.

One of New York’s top museums, Merchant’s House Museum explores the domestic life of the wealthy merchant family through public education programmes, exhibitions and collections.

In 1966, it was recognised as a National Historic Landmark. In 1977, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The collection of more than 4,500 items comprises the Tredwells’ possessions, including furniture, decorative arts, clothing, photographs, books and household items.

The New Museum of Contemporary Art was founded by Marcia Tucker, a curator at the Whitney, in 1977. It is a leading museum for new art and ideas, and is Manhattan’s only dedicated contemporary art museum. In 2007, the New Museum reopened in its current home with facilities including a theatre, five floors of gallery space and a Sky Room with spectacular views of lower Manhattan.

Back in 2019, the New Museum announced plans for a new second building that will double exhibition space with three floors of galleries. Designed by OMA, the building will replace the current space. The New Museum is opting to start from scratch instead of renovating.

“The OMA design will provide seamless connectivity and horizontal flow between the two buildings, expanded space for our world renowned exhibitions, and access to some of our most innovative programs that the public currently cannot see,” said the museum’s director, Lisa Phillips.

The New-York Historical Society is New York City’s oldest museum, founded in 1804. Its collections include more than 10 million items, from art and objects to artefacts and documents.

The museum is now expanding its building on Central Park West, adding more than 70,000 square feet of space. Designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the expansion will also house the American LGBTQ+ Museum. The new offering will explore the history and culture of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people through exhibitions and programmes.

Louise Mirrer, the president and CEO of the New-York Historical Society, said: “How gratifying it is to realize the dream of telling the American story in all its complexity in state-of-the-art educational spaces and a brand-new gallery dedicated to the struggle for civil rights of the American LGBTQ+ community.”

The Frick Collection, an art museum and research centre in New York City, originated with Henry Clay Frick, who left his paintings and sculptures to the public. Since the Frick opened in 1935, it has more than doubled in size.

The museum is currently closed for renovations, designed by Selldorf Architects. The project will create new spaces to display art and improve amenities. During the renovation, the museum and library collections are accessible at Frick Madison, the Marcel Breuer-designed building that once housed the Whitney Museum.

“Audiences will be able to experience the collection reframed in an exciting new way,” said Ian Wardropper, director of the Frick. “The minimalism of Marcel Breuer’s mid-century architecture will provide a unique backdrop for our Old Masters, and the result will be a not-to-be-missed experience, one that our public is sure to find engaging and thought-provoking.”

The Tenement Museum is housed in two historic tenement buildings in the Lower East Side neighbourhood of Manhattan. These buildings were home to an estimated 15,000 people from more than 20 nations between 1863 and the turn of the 21st century.

Founded in 1988 by historian Ruth Abram and social activist Anita Jacobsen, the museum focuses on the American story of immigration. The Tenement Museum is a leading cultural and educational institution in New York, welcoming more than 278,000 visitors annually.

Dr Annie Polland took over as the museum’s president in 2021, replacing Dr Morris J Vogel. “What the Tenement Museum does is nothing short of magical – bringing strangers together on an immersive tour of history, inspiring them to draw connections between past and present, and in the process forging connections with one another,” said Polland.

The Climate Museum is the United States’ first museum dedicated to climate change. It aims to inspire action on climate change through programming in the arts and sciences that improves awareness, connects people, and advances just solutions.

Exhibitions are shown in temporary gallery spaces and public spaces in New York City. The Museum is currently expanding to a year-round, permanent presence.

The Climate Museum was founded in 2015 by the former civil rights lawyer Miranda Massie, who spoke to blooloop about its climate mission.

She says: “The way people embrace that invitation to become a climate protagonist has just blown us away. It’s profound. It exceeds our wildest hopes and dreams.”

The museum’s 2023/4 exhibition The End of Fossil Fuel examines the industry’s history of racism and deception.

Another of New York’s top museums is the Morgan Library & Museum. Formerly the Pierpont Morgan Library, this is a museum and research library in Manhattan that started out as the personal library of financier, collector and cultural benefactor J.P. Morgan.

Its collection comprises manuscripts, rare books, music, drawings and works of art. The main building was constructed between 1902 and 1906 for $1.2 million.

The largest expansion in the Morgan Library & Museum’s history, designed by Renzo Piano, was completed back in 2006. The project increased exhibition space by more than 50 percent and added visitor amenities including a performance hall, café, restaurant, shop, reading room and collections storage.

The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY), a history and art museum in Manhattan, was founded in 1923 by Henry Collins Brown. The museum was originally housed in Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of New York City. MCNY’s current home on Fifth Avenue was completed in 1932.

This New York-based museum‘s collection contains approximately 750,000 objects, including prints, photographs, decorative arts, costumes, sculptures, toys and paintings.

Whitney Donhauser has served as director and president of the Museum of the City of New York since 2016. “I think our ability to capture the excitement of New York and to be a thought leader for everything around New York, is all building towards that celebration,” she told blooloop.

The Rubin Museum of Art in NYC’s Chelsea explores and celebrates Himalayan art, ideas and cultures across history. Inspired by the philosophical traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism, the museum offers innovative exhibitions and programmes.

The Rubin Museum opened in October 2004 and welcomes approximately 180,000 visitors annually. To date, the destination has put on more than 125 exhibitions and 5,500 public programmes. The Rubin boasts 35,000 square feet of space, with galleries, a state-of-the-art theatre, shop and café. The permanent collection includes nearly 4,000 objects across more than 1,500 years.

The original Rubin Museum of Art structure was designed by Beyer Blinder Belle and was occupied by Barneys New York.